Voluntary benefits are increasingly becoming part of the fabricof a total employee compensation package, and few benefits are astimely and necessary as critical illness insurance.

Yet, despite its cost-effective nature and increasing value intoday's health care environment, critical illness is one voluntarybenefit employers and their employees still have a hard timeunderstanding. These five steps can help you teach both employersand employees its worthiness, especially now, when its need hasnever been greater.

In the wake of rising health insurance costs, employees arepaying a higher share of premium for employer-provided healthinsurance, while simultaneously taking on higher out-of-pocketcosts. These expenses can total thousands of dollars per year. Thisincreased financial responsibility by employees, as well as relatedout-of-pocket expenses associated with a critical medicalcondition, comes at a time when many families and individuals arestruggling with having little to no emergency cash reserves.

In this environment, critical illness insurance can be thedifference between weathering a healthrelated financial storm orstaggering under the financial burden. However, employees can't buywhat they don't appreciate or understand. Surveys show there islack of understanding of voluntary benefits in general, of whichcritical illness is a growing part. For example, two-thirds ofemployers were not satisfied with employee enrollment in voluntarybenefits, according to the latest annual U.S. Employee BenefitTrends Study by MetLife. More than half of the employees surveyeddid not fully understand how their benefits worked or how thosebenefits could meet their needs.

The professionals who sell their products and services to thevoluntary benefits market are uniquely qualified to help fill thiseducation and information void, especially as it relates tocritical illness insurance. After all, they've helped theircustomers understand defined contribution plans, health savingsaccounts and other innovations over the years. Critical illnessisn't exactly new, but its importance has become greater due todevelopments on the health insurance front.

Critical illness insurance is not health insurance, but rather,a financial benefit that helps fill the increasing gaps left bysome health insurance plans. In the event of a covered illness ormedical condition specified in the plan, the insured will be paid alump sum to help pay for child care, cover mortgage payments, andsupplement daily living expenses and increasing out-of-pockethealth care costs.

This latter expense can be substantial, according to a study bythe Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School, which citedout-of-pocket medical expenses averaging $13,000 as the reason 55percent of individuals surveyed filed for bankruptcy with 70percent of those filers covered by a health insurance program.Critical illness insurance can provide peace of mind and afinancial life raft for employees, while fostering good will towardemployers who provide such an important benefit at minimalcost.

Expect critical illness insurance to remain at the forefront ofthe most wanted voluntary benefits into the near future. Accordingto the LIMRA 2013 U.S. Worksite Sales Survey, 60 percent ofemployers said they already have or plan to increase employeecontributions to the cost of coverage. These increases are on topof higher deductibles, copayments and coinsurance employees arepaying already. Additionally, the LIMRA study noted that sales ofcritical illness insurance increased by double digits for the thirdstraight year. In this environment, voluntary benefits likecritical illness insurance speak to employees buckling under thepressure of rising health care costs.

Getting employer buy-in

The key to growing this segment of your business is to getemployers to buy into the need for education and communication.This is necessary because the tendency of employees is to donothing when they confront benefits they do not understand. Thistendency—inertia—has been turned into a driver to motivateemployees to contribute to their retirement in the definedcontribution retirement plan area because employers can use autoenrollment and other automatic tools to help employees helpthemselves. Voluntary benefits, however, have no automatic tools,so it's up to advisors and consultants to provide the spark, thereasons employees should buy critical illness insurance, and themotivation for employers to add it to their benefits packages.

You can begin to educate employers and their workforce about theneed for critical illness insurance with a fivestep plan thatpersonally engages employees, helps them understand the benefits,and give them resources where they can find answers to theirquestions.

Step one: Identify your workforce.

Before you can start to inform employers and teach employees,you must know your audience. Begin with a demographic analysis.This analysis will identify a work population by age, gender andnumber of dependents. Benefits providers will require this and ZIPcode information to determine a group rate for the employer'scompany. Next, compare the employer's offerings, including criticalillness insurance and other voluntary benefits, to benefits offeredby peer companies. Identifying the benefits an employer'scompetitors offer is crucial to recruitment and retention. Thisresearch will help employers decide which voluntary benefits theyshould present to employees.

Step two: Determine which enrollment process will workbest.

An employer's enrollment methodology may include the web, a callcenter, face-to-face workshops or a combination of these deliverymethods. It may also include materials in a second language,especially if the majority of a company's workforce speaks Englishas a second language. Even while emphasizing critical illnessinsurance, it should be included as part of a total approach withother voluntary benefits.

A passive approach can often be less effective as it invitesinertia, despite an employer's investment and best efforts. To thisend, focus on active enrollment and decide which active processworks best for your dominant employee groups.

Step three: Communicate your message.

Once you have completed a demographic employee analysis anddetermined which methodologies you will use for enrollment, it'stime to communicate and educate. Your clients can do this withposters, email messages, robo-calls, smartphone apps, payrollstuffers, postcards and even text messages. Multiple types ofcommunication delivery methods help address the different waysgenerations communicate and learn.

It's necessary to consider multiple types of communicationplatforms to achieve maximum education and communication.Typically, an employer will need to connect with employees who arekinesthetic, auditory or visual. They will need to bridgegeneration gaps spanning Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Yand Millennials. This differentiation is crucial in helpingemployees find the way they learn best. Older employees mightprefer paper, things they can touch—brochures and stuffers—and readwith their spouse. Younger generations may prefer the visual andaudio communication vehicles they know best, including social mediaand smartphone applications. Whichever communication devices anemployer eventually decides to use, understand that the mosteffective communication will paint a picture to help employeesunderstand the reality of a bad situation. A personal experiencestory, like mine, can prove particularly powerful.

A few years back, doctors diagnosed my wife with breast cancerat age 35. We had two young children then, and I had to help herget through treatment, manage the family and make sure things werecoordinated around the house. My wife was a stay-at-home mom, so wedidn't lose a salary, but she wasn't able to keep the housetogether as she always had. We had very comprehensive medicalcoverage, however, she had surgery, six weeks of chemotherapyfollowed by radiation treatments every day for 12 weeks, and we hadto pay for child care expenses throughout.

There were other expenses, too, such as having someone mow thelawn, shop for food, prepare our meals, clean the house and takecare of laundry—all the activities my wife was managing along withraising our children. We also decided we wanted our daughtergenetically tested to see if she carried the breast cancer gene;the insurance company didn't pay for that $2,500 test. We also hadto buy a special bed because my wife couldn't get in and out of theone we had at the time without tremendous pain. I owned my ownbusiness and had my senior staff take on some of the extra burdenat the office, so I needed to take less salary to cover thosecosts. All of this cost more than $12,000, and the expenses put adent in my budget. However, many families who live paycheck topaycheck would not have been so lucky and might have declaredbankruptcy.

Since then, I have been a huge proponent of voluntary benefits,particularly critical illness insurance. It would've helped myfamily a lot back then, but its benefits could mean everything tomany employees. When I talk at conferences, more than half of thepeople in the audience raise their hand to tell me they or a closerelative went through a major illness. Almost everyone knowssomeone who did, and on one thing we can all agree—it's a big dealfinancially. Not too long ago, people who suffered a heart attack,stroke or were diagnosed with some cancers were not very likely tosurvive. Today, medical advances have helped ensure more survivorsthan ever. Employees need to know how critical illness insuranceand other benefits can help them financially during times ofdifficulty.

You can tell these stories to employees in the way they learnbest: YouTube or company videos, in a newsletter or even in apersonal workshop. People will empathize, because they or someonethey know has gone through major illness.

Step 4: Consider enrollment options.

This is where the role of a benefits advisor really comes intoplay. There are many steps to implementing a voluntary benefitsprogram, and an advisor needs to send out requests for proposals tovoluntary benefits carriers and negotiate underwriting offers.After reviewing the offers with the employer, both typically worktogether to select the best carrier based on rates, coverage,underwriting concessions and the employer/employee profile. Once aninsurance carrier and enrollment partner is selected, it's time toput together the tools that will help employees choose theirbenefits, including a centralized call center, online tutorials,Q&As and print collateral. Consider a wide variety ofenrollment communication techniques.

Also know that communication shouldn't end when enrollment does.Ongoing communication keeps employers engaged with their employeesthroughout their tenure with the company.

Step 5: Make it happen.

With everything in place, the voluntary benefits advisor shoulddoublecheck to ensure that payroll deduction starts as planned,that billing is set up and ready to go for administration, and thatcustomer service has all the information it needs to provideemployees fast and efficient service. When it comes to criticalillness insurance, your service representatives should know whichmedical events are covered, when benefits start, the duration ofbenefits, and the amount of benefit allowed. After all, serviceafter the sale will make the next sale even easier.

Make critical illness insurance the focal point ofvoluntary benefits

With the cost of the primary benefits like health insurance andretirement plans so high and, in some cases, going higher,voluntary benefits are a wonderfully cost-efficient way to helpyour clients show their employees they care. But for employers toshow they care, they first need to understand the value of low-costbenefits like critical illness, and believe in the need tocommunicate the benefits to employees.

Once critical illness insurance is part of the total voluntarybenefits package, actively enroll employees and drive home thevalue of the coverage and other voluntary benefits before employeesexperience a personal story like mine—or worse. Communicate theadvantages of offering and owning critical illness insurance byfirst informing and then educating employees in a way they learnbest, using powerful stories of why benefits like these work—andfor minimal cost.

Be a hero to your clients. Recommend they consider carrying oneof the most cost-efficient benefits in today's increasinglycomplicated employee benefits market. With employees footing alarger share of health insurance premiums and paying higherdeductibles and other health care expenses, critical illnessinsurance can prove to be the benefits foundation that helps youattract and retain a talented, well-informed and productiveworkforce.